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Alex Rychwalski | Bazarnic gets his day

Steve Bazarnic was unable to attend the Dapper Dan banquet earlier this month to accept his Top Award, so it was brought to him on early Friday afternoon.

Mike Mathews presented the honor during a ramshackle ceremony in the Bazarnic’s living room on Schley Street, with dinner chairman Adam Sterne, JR Perdew, Paul Ackerman and Bazarnic’s wife Cathy present.

There were no bells and whistles, and that was fitting for a coach who for 48 years taught young men grit and toughness through the game of baseball at Allegany College, winning 1,469 games and appearing in nine World Series in the process.

The group packed into the living room — adorned with Penn State memorabilia, where Bazarnic played baseball, and with his 2026 American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and Top Award honors displayed prominently next to the fireplace — and listened as Bazarnic received a phone call from some old friends.

“I think the area was blessed with one of the best baseball coaches in college history,” said a voice on the other line.

It belonged to Leo Mazzone, a Bruce graduate who established himself as one of the most successful pitching coaches of all-time with the Atlanta Braves.

From 1991-98, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz combined to win six Cy Young awards under Mazzone’s tutelage.

“You can’t describe the type of friendship we all had,” Mazzone went on. “You can’t have a better friend than Steve Bazarnic. And Steve and Cathy were a big part of our family growing up, and we miss those days. And I sure miss seeing everyone.

“It’s hard to describe the great companionship and camaraderie we had as the three amigos. That’s for darn sure.

“We cared about people. We cared about each other, and we still do. So it was just a great friendship that will never be replaced by anybody else.”

Another member of the group call chimed in.

“I think we’ve got to throw in (John) Kruk’s name with the rest of us,” said Sam Perlozzo, a Bishop Walsh alum who managed the Baltimore Orioles from 2005-07 after a Major League playing career with the Twins and Padres.

“We were pretty well stocked in the area. And Steve is the reason we started it, and he looks like he finished it. And we appreciate the time that we were allotted to help with his program. Not that it needed anything, but it was just, it was big league.”

Perlozzo, Mazzone and Kruk — a Keyser native who was a career .300 hitter with the Padres, Phillies and White Sox from 1986-95 — often worked with Allegany College in the offseason when the trio was still local.

Bazarnic’s program produced 54 MLB draft picks, including Kruk, Stan Belinda and Steve Kline during his tenure (1972-2019).

There were tears shed in the room as the trio reminisced, a discussion that also included hard boiled egg projectiles, a possible steak dinner in a future get-together, running pass patterns and baseball analytics.

The latter topic prompted colorful language, immediately followed by, “don’t print that.”

When the call ended, Perdew and Ackerman — sitting under an archway decorated with pictures of Bazarnic with Cathy and their daughter, Christie — described what made Bazarnic and his program special.

“If there’s a better coach in America, I’d like to see him,” said Perdew, who was a coach on six of the Trojans’ World Series teams in eight years.

“I was around a lot of good coaches in pro ball, and his loyalty, his hard work and dedication was incredible, but his loyalty to the players was unmatched, and that’s a fact. He always had our back, and we all wanted to play for him.”

Bazarnic had the Allegany College field dedicated to him in 2023. As Mathews, who played infield at James Madison and was later a Times-News sportswriter, pointed out, the field affectionally known as “The Rock” already bore his name.

Bazarnic was “The Rock” to the Trojans’ program, and its principles were built day by day through the vision of its leader.

The players ran the mountain in the snow, took ground balls minutes after shoveling the tennis courts and competed with well-funded national powerhouses at the World Series wearing simple uniforms with spikes from their high school teams.

“There were never any excuses,” said Perdew, who shared a memory of Bazarnic before the Trojans beat Seminole State, Oklahoma (70-5), at the 1984 NJCAA World Series.

“We had no bags to carry. These dudes get off their beautiful bus with their TVs and their big-time packs, but they were bigger, they were stronger, faster than us, and everything was better.

“We got on the bus and you could tell everybody was tight. No one spoke from the practice field driving, it was probably a 15-, 20-minute drive right in the traffic over to the game field. And we parked out behind the stadium.

“I’ll never forget, coach (Bazarnic) is like, ‘Hey, don’t anybody move. We’ve outworked them. Look at everything they have. They got it better than us. They got these facilities. They probably practiced indoor all the time. When it was bad weather, we went out and did this. I guarantee you we want it more. And we’re tougher than them.”

The Trojans won that game 9-6, and they beat San Jacinto, Texas, 7-5, en route to a third-place finish.

Ackerman gave Bazarnic his flowers at the Dapper Dan banquet, but the former catcher, who played on the coach’s first region championship team, still had more to say (as he often does).

“I’ve had two influential men in my life. My dad died young, then I got coach. My mother lived a good life, and then I’ve always had Mrs. Bazarnic.

“Because of these two folks, and particularly that gentleman there, I’ve been set for my whole life. Every goal that I’ve accomplished, every success. And like I said at the banquet, he made us all better fathers, more accountable. He made me a better man, made me a better coach, made me a better student.”

Bazarnic does not want recognition — he tried to give somebody else the Top Award when he won it in 2011 — but his friends brought it to him on Friday.

A look of appreciation poured from Bazarnic’s face, as it did throughout.

“Thank you.”

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